Nokia Lumia 1020: Hands on and first impression

Today we finally got our grips on the Lumia 1020, Nokia’s soon to be released Windows Phone sporting a 41MP camera with BSI sensor and optical image stabilization.

After the break we have a few initial photos of the device and a quick video of it in action.

What’s our verdict (so far)? It’s thinner and lighter than you would expect. We also really dig the matte yellow color, which is akin to the Lumia 720. Sure you can feel that hump a bit but ain’t it worth it to take such gorgeous photos? We think so.

The phone also packs a few other tidbits that we weren’t aware of, but more on that a bit later.

I really like the design of the 925 too. Hoping for a 32GB with micro SD card coming later. Wouldn't mind a pureview 41mp hump either if they could still keep the body like the 925, then a wireless cover would work well with it.

Simply put, a "disappointment". They should have just named it "Lumia 941". This is not a succesor to L920. Most of the main hardware components are exactly same. Same processor, same display (or atleast same as 925), same battery (biggest disappointment). I atleast expected a higher clock speed dual core processor as we already know quadcore is not yet supported. just increasing RAM to process the imaging is not sufficient. Dont even get me started on the pricing. I'll guarantee that the price will come down within a month. I'll wait for the next gen lumia.

I agree with you,
but i wish if possible, Nokia would add an SD card (64Gb or 128Gb) on this camera grip so that those of us wishing to have more storage would have something to fallback on. Since they do not want to increase storage or put SD card on the actual phone

What exactly is it that people want to do with these quad cores and 1080p screens? Can anyone offer a scenario where these specs are needed? They exist in android phones today, so there must be numerous example where these higher specced devices are superior, right?

The camera is going to save 2 pictures one at 30s MP resolution and another 5MP resolution by oversampling. As u can understand with the better processor these tasks can handled much better than the current one. I expect there's going to be few lag issues with the camera. I dont understand y u ppl dont want ur phone to be a little future proofed??? Is it too much to expect from a flagship device at such a price point??? When GDR3 update comes and nokia starts making phones with quadcore processors how will the ppl respond then???

most of the "main hardware" are the same on 820 and 920 as well....I cant understand what the difficulty in seeing the reasoning behind the name is.....1020 is a higher end model to the 920....not a next gen model. that camera costs a bomb....a company like nokia not only takes into consideration the final production cost but also the r&d costs that the technology has incurred over the last 6 years of development....costs will come down over time and parts of the tech will trickle down to lower priced models. Next gen models will have 1080p screens and quad core....but the 930 or 940 will still be cheaper than the 1020....or its successors. its as simple as that

It's not meant as a successor to the 9xx series as it's a new 1xxx series with ultra high end camera hardware. The 9xx series upgrades will come in the fall/winter when Blue arrives and things like 1080p screens, newer CPUs and such drop. WP8 has only been out since November, the full year cycle for WP has not happened yet.

Why There is no HDMI port ?! For a phone featuring a 41 MP camera the logical thing that's comes in your mind is the ability to screen it in a bigger screen to see the amazing pictures that the phone can take.

I can't say that I find your conclusion to be that logical. Even a 4k TV is out-resolved (by 5x) by this sensor, and it's not like 4k TVs are in every house.
Or maybe you're just equating a high megapixel count with superlative image quality, which wouldn't be a reliable indicator, either.
In any event, I think that they Nokia Play To app will scratch your particular itch.

Man I want one of these so bad... but I'm on Verizon, so the chance of them getting this any time soon isn't good! Can't see moving to ATT just to get this, so got to hope this or a similar version comes to VZW once of these days!

I would prefer it to be thicker and don't have that atroucious enourmous hump.
Apart from that, nice phone for those who search for a camera above everything else. I can see it competing with the Samsung Galaxy Camera in that aspect.
As for me, no thanks. I registre happily that it has 2GB, something I expect to be standard or increased on the next generation devices. But the rest, I don't care.

I actually like it better with the camera cover on. As long as the phone is black, of course. Unlike Daniel, I have absolutely no love for yellow or bright coloured phones =P

Too bad no red (yet). However I'm not planning to replace my 920 until next year anyway so I'll wait for the 930/940 or 1030/1040 or whatever the next gen versions will be post WP Blue and later in 2014.

I'm sure its a great phone , but the design language is getting stale , I thought the EOS was supposed to start a new design language for the Lumia line.
They need to come out with a new Design before they become like Samsung & their Egg snapped phones

I totally agree. Its been on since N9 and 920 should've been the peak. I'm guessing they're treating this as the last 920 boost and their next flagship should have a new design language. After all its Nokia and they know design!

Sick!!! I love it I love my 920 but this is gorgeous! I'm not that much into photography but I'm into video and this baby can record 24, 25 or 30 fps, and a 4x zoom without losing any detail, (on 720 p its 6x zoom) besides the great microphones, sick! I'll get this and star shooting some crazy stuff. Time to start saving fellas!

if you watched the big reveal steve said there would be another big annoucement later this year their working on making the wireless charging built in so i think the big announcement then will reveal that?

I have to admit Nokia did a good job with product placement. With the 1020 you have a new phone to lust for, but it also leaves the 920 and 928 with its own benefits. I still love my 920 for it's top notch photos housed under such a smooth case without any distortion with the camera module. It doesn't scream "I take photos" but gives you good results. To me this is a perfect mobile device with integrated wireless charging. 1020 is also great for its own purpose and if I didn't have a 920 id get the 1020 for sure. But the 920 serves me just fine and even up to the near future. I'm guessing the next real flagship at the end of the year will have Qi integrated.

On the other hand im not sure why they would take away integrated Qi with 925.....